A Living Magazine - Day 317 - Homecoming - Poughkeepsie to Arlington

I was at a birthday party in my honor. As I walked around though, I realized people weren't paying much attention to me. I thought this was a bit odd. It was in a small field. There were booths set up, like a carnival. It was really cool, actually. All my friends were milling around and having a grand old time. I stopped to talk to a couple people and couldn't get a word in edgewise. If this were somebody else's party I don't think it would have bothered me at all. But, to have this event in my honor and not even be able to talk to anyone was really bumming me out. It was like I was invisible, or maybe dead, and stuck there as a ghost.

Eventually, I wandered over to the side, walked through a door and down some steps to an empty arena. It was a tiny place, something you might hold a cock fight in, with sandy ground - like a pit - and bleachers all the way around. At one end there was a small stool, so I went over and sat down there.

A few seconds later, I heard a large door swing open and then shut across the arena. And, out from the shadows walked a large male lion slowly. He looked around and saw me. I wasn't particularly scared, for some reason. His tail raised up a bit and he started toward me. When he reached me, I began to talk to him, like I would a cat. He moved a couple inches closer and I reached out my hand to scratch his face. He seemed to like this and sat right down next to me.

His mane was thick and I had to bury my hand in it to reach his neck; there, giving a good scratch too. He really liked that, stood up, turned around and settled down to his stomach, sphynx-like, while I rubbed around his eyes and big ears. Then, knowing how much house cats like this, I reached back and scratched right at the base of his tail. He turned around and looked at my hand. I thought maybe I'd pissed him off, but then he faced forward again, closed his eyes and panted like a dog, relaxed and happy.

I was so busy with the lion that I hadn't noticed my surroundings. When I looked up I saw that all the way around the balcony above, my friends had silently gathered. They simply stood there smiling with their hands on the railing. The lion looked up at them too, surprised to see so many people I suppose.

He quickly rose to his feet and walked to the center of the sand pit, where he sat down majestically, facing me. Then he roared so loud that everyone gasped, including me. I felt the urge to stand up and walked over to him, where I stood beside him. Even sitting down, his head was as high as my chest.

The lion looked up and roared at the sky. Then he did it again--sounding a bit like words of some kind. And on the third time, he seemed to say, "Honor for my son!" Then he looked at me in the eyes. I suddenly realized that maybe he was Leo - my birth sign - in the flesh...yet, also, something more; like a king or a mighty traveler of some kind. He was not an animal anymore, but a powerful being of some kind.

I seemed to understand that he was there to honor me on my birthday, where others would not--or, maybe, could not.

Then the sky grew dark and shadows filled up the arena. No one was left standing on the balcony anymore. The lion too was gone and I was lying on my back in the sand as rain fell all around me, but not on me. I closed my eyes. And when I opened them I was in the tent listening to the rain.

* * * * * * *

This had not been a Lucid Awareness event, only a strong dream. Surely, it was symbolic of something. Maybe it means nothing to anyone else, but I felt self-assured in a way that I had been missing for weeks. Although I'd dreaded the idea of having to walk in the rain, and not seeing an end to it for at least a week (reminding me of Athens, Georgia), I was ready to face it all. I'd been uncomfortable, wet, miserable, so many times before, that this would just be another time; no better no worse.

I yawned a big yawn and began the pack up. Once again all of my stuff was soaking wet as I stuffed it into Saggy, then said goodbye to this sleep spot and the trees around that had sheltered me, even yelled out to the deer that they would be free to walk around without me bugging them, then walked out onto the street.

I figured I would stop into the Price Chopper and check out the road ahead. My first task was to get back over to the center of town, and then head up Route 44 to Arlington. And, if it looked like there was going to be rain, stay there in Arlington somewhere. The only possible place I could find was right next to a shopping center with a Starbucks in it (conveniently).

When I'd taken a few screenshots and written out a little map to carry, I headed out...

When I got to the intersection where Grant Street met Main Street in Arlington, I saw a McDonald's to take some shelter in. It was a good place, with AC outlets and fast internet. Double checking for sleep spots up the road, I really couldn't find anything besides what I'd found earlier. The rain had really picked up and there was no sense in trying to get any further up the road on this night.

I left McDonald's and walked up to the Starbucks minimall. I was going to go into Starbucks and work for a while, but I wasn't confident enough in the choice of the sleep spot and wanted to vet it while there was still a bit of light in the sky.

Turned out to be a pretty crappy location. The grassy edge I'd seen on Google Street View dropped quickly down into a swamp, so thick, I could even get down into it and didn't want to try. The rain got heavy, and I really didn't know what the hell to do. There were no good options, but the least of the bad ones (remembering POMA) was to get into the tightly spaced trees that were close to the road.

Shit! Easier said than done! Not only was there hardly any space to move in these trees, it was also mostly an incline, and the trees were... wait for it...buckthorns (Rhamnus cathartica), with huge thorns and long winding branches. The very first thing I did was accidentally jab my left thumb, right down to the bone. Then my right palm got a good pricking. When I went to move that branch, a smaller thorn broke off in the side of my hand. I found a spot that wouldn't be too bad and began clearing it--carefully. Every time I backed up I'd get jabbed. Side to side? Same thing. Somehow I was able to twist most of the branches out of the way.

It was getting darker and the rain began to cast down heavier drops at me. The other sucky thing was this spot was on a road that led down to a large apartment complex, so there were cars constantly going by. Also, it was directly across from a dance studio with all of the parents' cars going in and out of the parking lot, picking up their little girls. Some just sat with their headlights shining directly on me. That's all I needed! To be discovered by nervous parents: 911--"There's a strange man in the woods right across the street from my daughter's dance class! Quick send an officer over right away! Won't someone please think of the children!?" Ha! The thought amused me at the same time that it disturbed me.

The last thing to do was cut a 3/4 inch root that ran directly across the tent area. I fished out the multitool and sawed the root, pulling up each side and wrapping them around neighboring trees.

Finally, I could set up the tent and I felt much better once the green tarp was on top. It really makes a terrific camouflage among green leaves. Being continuously pelted with rain, I quickly crawled into the tent and pulled out the sleeping bag. There is no better feeling than lying on top of that sucker, finally sheltered from the rain...

Talk about a tight fit!

I knew there would be no sleeping-in the next morning, so I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. and then fell asleep, hoping to have some kind of dream to take me away from all of this hard, cold, wet reality.